Tales Souls Tell
by Riverspirit456
Summary: Nyra Selvien was a completely ordinary girl until she woke up one Wednesday morning to find that she could see people's Spirit Animal walking beside them, including her own. Now she has to find out why she suddenly gained this power. Where did the ability come from? What challenges will she face to gain this information? And Oh My gods who's going to claim that last piece of pizza?
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue: The Last Ordinary Day**

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Nyra flung herself onto the bed, green sheets spreading out in a wave around her. She had just arrived home from a typical school day. The classes blurred together in her mind, becoming an endless expanse of droning teachers, slideshows and notes. She remembered briefly talking to one of her friends around lunchtime; discussing plans for Friday.

Now, in her room, the brown-haired girl let out a puff of air and closed her eyes. It was not Friday. It was, in fact, Tuesday, one of the worst days of the week.

_School, school, school…_ Nyra thought, rolling onto her side and staring across the room. _Students go for six hours, come home and are expected to do two more hours of homework. Woopee for us._

Sighing once more, she sat up and grabbed her bag. Pouring the contents onto the bed, she sifted through endless folders, loose papers, and binders. Shaking her head, she patted her backpack,

"I'm sorry you have to carry all this crap, Backpack." She said, "its ridonculous, isn't it?"

The backpack, of course, did not respond, but lay on the bed forlornly, as though it wanted to say, _I know! I'm so done with this. _

Nyra finally chose her English homework, a worksheet and a rubric for a new essay. She carried it to her desk and plopped it on the cool wooden surface. For a moment, she stared at it, not thinking or moving, but recognizing a familiar feeling in her chest: the feeling of her heart sinking._I have to do it, I have to do it…_ Nyra chanted to herself. She inhaled sharply and…

Left the papers on her desk.

"I need to eat first." Nyra said, defending herself to no one in particular.

As she walked down the hall toward the kitchen, she passed her mother's bedroom. A quick glance inside revealed her mother sitting on the bed with a computer in her lap, tapping away on the keyboard. Nyra decided not to wonder what Mom was doing. Instead, she swung around the corner, into the kitchen, and opened the fridge.

Three hours and a sandwich later, approximately 7:20 PM, Nyra finally sat down at her desk, heart still sinking, and began answering questions on the worksheet. She finished in fifteen minutes. _That was the most amazing worksheet I've ever received,_ She thought, _its wisdom surpassed my imagining. Surely it deserves a high seat on the Council of Amazingly Useful Worksheets._

She stood and, once again, flopped onto her bed, face down. _Who the heck am I always thinking to, anyway?_

With no answer in mind, she rolled over and grabbed her laptop.  
>.<p>

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>This was the last normal day that Nyra Selvien ever had. Of course, she couldn't have known that. After all, no one can predict…well, that one guy selling hotdogs did once…but other than him, no one can predict the future.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1: Something Strange

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Nyra opened her eyes the next day to find…nothing out of place. Nope, everything looked completely normal. She inched off the bed and fell to the floor. Crawling on hands and knees to the dresser, she pulled open a drawer and reached in. _The shirt I'll be wearing today is…_ she thought, and held up a black long sleeve shirt. She nodded her approval. _I can work with that. What about pants? _She opened yet another drawer to reveal a line of identical jeans.

No, no literally. They were all pretty much the same pair of jeans.

_So many choices_. Nyra mused.

Once dressed and breakfasted, Nyra gathered her school supplies and made for the door.

"You're leaving early,"

Nyra paused, hand on the doorknob and turned to find her mother coming down the dimly lit hall.

"Yep. I was a little late yesterday. Better leave earlier to-" Nyra's voice died midsentence. There was something very wrong with her mother. "Mom…you have a…"

"A what?" Mom asked, eyes widening. She froze and looked down at herself.

Nyra pointed,

"A snake hanging around your neck."

"What?" Mom immediately looked down and touched around her neck. When she looked up again, her expression was amused, "Ha ha, Nyra." She said, and rolled her eyes.

Nyra didn't smile. A snake coiled around her mother's neck, draped as though wearing snakes as scarves was a regular fashion choice. It's scales were deep brown, with lighter brown markings. It gazed at Nyra in surprise, eyes a burning green. Looking slightly closer, Nyra realized the snake seemed to glow slightly with a golden light. _Okay, this is weird. Is it a dream?  
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>"O-okay…" Nyra said, and opened the door to leave.<p>

"Have a nice day at school!" Mom called after her.

Nyra glanced behind her. The snake was still there, staring after her intently. It did not blink. Meanwhile, Mom simply waved and smiled. Nyra shook her head to clear it and jumped down the steps onto the sidewalk. _I guess I'm hallucinating now. Perfect._

_._

_._

_._

As Nyra walked down the street toward school, she continued to notice things about people she passed. Animals walked beside them; many different animals. Strange animals that certainly did not normally wonder around in the Eastern United States.

One woman, middle aged and talking to someone on the phone, passed by with a tiger strolling beside her. Nyra froze in place as the woman and the tiger passed. The woman threw her a strange look, clearly thinking, _what's she so terrified of?_

A jogger ran by, earphones in, with what looked like a mountain goat hopping behind her. _This is one strange dream. At least I'll have a story to tell Mom when I wake up…_Nyra thought as she watched the pair run by.

More and more animals appeared, always with a person. By the time Nyra reached school, she had seen the aforementioned tiger and mountain goat, plus a monkey, a zebra, a wolf, a few otters, a lynx, and a number of birds and reptiles. _Is it National Exotic Pet Day?! _Nyra wondered incredulously.

Then she saw the crowd gathered at the school entrance.

Students at Nyra's school liked to hang out outside the entrance before class began. There was a grassy area with a few trees, and even two wooden picnic tables to sit at. This place was extra popular at the moment, seeing as it was late spring. Today, ten minutes before classes began, there were a number of students sitting on the grass, at the tables, or standing in groups, talking. Nyra observed the crowd with wide eyes. _Animals…animals everywhere._ She thought in wonder.

Animals she had seen on the walk to school, like wolves, otters, reptiles and birds (not to mention new, other animals) could be seen either lying on shoulders, flying overhead, or sitting nearby. The strangest thing – oh yes, there was a 'strangest thing' – was that there were not only land animals, but sea animals as well. Nyra stared at the air above people's heads as a number of strange fish swam by. There was a single seal twirling through the air as though it were underwater.

Nyra pressed her hands to her eyes and let out a sigh. _My subconscious needs to go home…it's drunk. _Quite suddenly, she broke into a burst of laughter.

A few conversations stopped, and glances were cast her way. She immediately stopped laughing, smiled at the other teenagers, and walked to the nearest tree to sit down.

"I am definitely writing this down." Nyra said to herself, "It would make a crazy story."

"Crazy indeed."

Nyra flinched and looked around. No one was standing near her. Heart thumping slightly, Nyra slowly slid down the tree and sat, backpack in her lap. She surveyed the area once more before shrugging. _I must have imagined it._

She twisted her backpack around to unzip it. As soon as she did, an unwelcome guest presented its self to her.

With a sharp gasp, Nyra pushed the bag away from her and stood quickly. _Stupid spiders!_

After a moment standing tensely, Nyra bent down to see if the insect was still there. Tentatively, she grabbed the bag and tipped it over. The spider was not where it had been, but Nyra still inspected the bag carefully before finally picking it up. That's when she spotted the creature. It was large, an inch in length if one counted the legs, and it was a deep russet color, almost crimson. Lighter marks could be seen on its sternum and opisthosoma (try saying that 5 times fast). It lay in the grass, balancing on the ends of the blades.

"Hello, little guy." Nyra said, staring at the spider. "You startled me, dude."

Nyra had never been especially scared of spiders. In fact, a dare in second grade had required her to touch a zipper spider on its web, and although she had not liked the idea, she had done it with only slight hesitation.

The spider did not move as she sat staring a moment longer. Suddenly, the bell rang, signaling the beginning of the school day. Nyra stood and glanced down at the spider once more,

"Nice meeting you," She joked, and hurried toward first period.


End file.
